MOZE’S 2011 ART PICKS AND MORE

WE GO TO Burning Man for many things, COMMUNITY, EXPRESSION, MUSIC, CAMPING, UNICORNS and FRIED BUTTER ON A STICK, but for those of you who truly come out for the ART, this is a banner year. We have 300+ registered installations in 2011. There are 93 FIRE PROJECTS, up from 71 last year. We have what will be the LARGEST PROJECT EVER TO GRACE THE PLAYA and we have some new TRADITIONS.

Let me tell you a little about it.

This year our FEARLESS LEADER, the REVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGIST EXTRAORDINAIRE, Mr. Larry von Harvey has decreed the MEME THEME RITES OF PASSAGE. I’m tickled as a playa mantis in a cup of dew about this year’s ART that’s being built on the TABULA RASA of the empty playa floor at this VERY MOMENT. You lucky CITIZENS will be welcomed to a Playa that is full to overflowing with monumental, whimsical, technically spectacular and stunning ART, much of which will burn with the intensity of so many who have worked all year round to GIFT it to you.

Creating ART to take out to Burning Man is very much a RITE OF PASSAGE. All our ARTISTS will be in their LIMINAL STATE and full of joy in that playa apparition situation just in between the SEPARATION of months of working their asses off and fundraising and the eventual REINCORPORATION of disassembling or immolating the ARTISTIC FRUIT OF THEIR LOINS REALIZED. They’ve really outdone themselves this year so you’re in for a TREAT.

We also have a HUGE crop of NEW TO THE PLAYA ARTISTS making art and doing everything from a zip line to an upside down tree. Welcome and enjoy. This event will change you my friends.

Baptême du Feu

My dear friend Mr. Steve who also is involved with the ART SCENE, and I were discussing the fact that there is INDEED something GROUNDBREAKING IN A WAY that the existence of Burning Man facillitates. It is something we see very much of this time of year. In our SOCIETY OF SPECTACLE PEOPLE WITH MANY DIFFERENT SKILL SETS AND POINTS of view are working COLLABORATIVELY on COLLOSAL projects, the SCOPE and VISION of which is BECOMING GREATER and MORE SOPHISTICATED each year.. It isn’t so much that this hasn’t happened before, but just as the SCALE of our event is growing, the SCALE of this approach to MAKING ART is GAINING MOMENTUM and is specifically happening at this moment, with those of us who are part of this whole BURNING MAN thing. We are ALL indeed a bunch who are rich in spirit, experience and art who are building something new.

Speaking of all the people who work their asses off to MAKE the ART, this year once again ANARCHIST JIM and EVONNE HEYNING have put together their AUDIO TOURS which are just so entirely cool to have in your AUDIO TALKIN’ DEVICE as you’re walking around encountering ART and as a BONUS this year Jim, Patti Glenn and Reena Shah put together a PDF DOCUMENT that is OVERFLOWING with information, photographs and stories from the artists themselves. And it has a MAP. Seriously. A MAP with the ART PLACED ON IT. I love these people in the ARTery and I’m lucky enough to have worked with them since 2003 because they are some of the BEST PEOPLE I’ve ever met. I get to read every project every year as I build the INSTALLATION PAGES. So if you’re truly INTERESTED IN ART, well let me give you something to get your motor running and I’m PLEASED TO GIVE YOU this year’s

MOZE’S 2011 ART PICKS AND MORE

1. CHARON by Peter Hudson. Peter is a really, really nice guy with TALENT and VISION that OOZES out of him. I got to see CHARON at his place on Treasure Island. Everything is entirely HUSH HUSH this year because he wants you to EXPERIENCE the WONDER AND SURPRISE he did when he went to his FIRST BURN. Peter is a self described STROBOSCOPIC ZOETROPIC ARTIST. Remember the MONKEYS of HOMOURBOROS, the ARMS of TANTALUS? Well, wait till you see CHARON this year.

2. The TROJAN HORSE by Douglas Bevans and many others, is a 50 ft tall Trojan Horse that “casts an ominous shadow” and on Friday will be “ accompanied by an immense brass and drum corps” as “the masses will pull the beast from the Esplanade through the Gates of Troy and into the Temple of Dionysius.” Then it BURNS. You will see this project all week and they could use your HELP on FRIDAY to PULL OR PUSH them out to the playa. YOU are the MASSES. When you see this sculpture during the week please connect with the artists and plan on helping them bring it to fruition Friday. I hear they may or may not have Lepus issues, but I’m sure they’ve contracted the proper authorities.

3. EXCUSITARE TRAIECTUS is this year’s KeyHole piece. By Orion Fredericks who was building it at AMERICAN STEEL in OAKLAND. He told us it is a bridge that leads to a “spinning water and fire portal” of “cleansing passage elementals”. This is another piece that has been kept away from the public eye so it can be a THING TO BEHOLD. I always have grand expectations of each Keyhole piece since ONE TREE and some are stunning, others not so much and this year I think we’ve got something AMAZING being built there.

4. The MAN HIMSELF. The CREWE that makes him are essential to the HEART and SOUL of our entire MOVEMENT, and this year I hear he’s a STRIDER atop what sounds like almost two MAN BASES. He’s STEPPIN’ OUT with new arm movement and a new attitude. You gotta LOVE that MAN. He’s just so “right there in the MIDDLE of everything”. Then you gotta BURN HIM.

5. I believe we have our FIRST ANNUAL CIRCLE OF REGIONAL EFFIGIES with “ANNUAL” being the CARDINAL word. This “CORE” that you keep hearing about is going to be something to behold. Twenty-three EFFIGIES that represent the Burning Man REGIONALS. You’ve heard that phrase “WE ARE EVERYWHERE” right? Well, in this case that’s us and we BURN things all over the world that will be in a 600 ft circle around the MAN and at 9:00 pm Thursday they will all BURN at the SAME TIME.

6. EXCHANGHIBITION BANK by Dadara. There is a BANK at Burning Man this year that will challenge your idea of CURRENCY, and “the Exchanghibition Bank will create a “confrontation, which might introduce the possibility of a transition into another frame of thought”. Dadara is a VISIONARY FINE, PERFORMANCE and SCULPTURAL ARTIST who lives in a REALM that FEW of us have ever encountered and he’s created some of the most memorable and exquisite interactive sculpture to live at Black Rock City including Fools Ark, Burning Greymen and Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia.

7. The TEMPLE OF TRANSITION by Chris Hankins, Diarmaid Horkan and the International Art Megacrew may very well be the LARGEST HUMAN MADE STRUCTURE ever to appear at Burning Man. From what I understand, they are some of the people behind last year’s MegaTropolis and they have a GRAND IDEA for this year’s TEMPLE. I know that RIGHT NOW they are in the desert, toiling beyond belief to bring this project into fruition. If you love the TEMPLE, I suggest you check out their WEBSITE for more.

8. JIM BOWER’S BURNING TIME – The 1 mile Clock Project. Remember those EYES OF GOD? This year Jim is organizing something so big it will set a Guinness Book world record. “In 2011 you need only LOOK UP to check the time on The World’s Largest Clock! But this is no ordinary timepiece. “Burning Time” will keep you on time, using three high powered hour, minute and second hand lasers, accurate to within 1/2000 of a second!” JIM is working with TIM BLACK who is one of the coolest mad scientists alive today and RUSSELL WILCOX who built Beaming Man and who has been behind many lasers on the playa.

You can read more here (I really recommend spending sometime on his site for some great stories).

9. Let us not forget the Center Camp Café. If you’ve never done anything in there other than grab a cup of coffee, stretch and Tai Chi with the hippies or crash on the couches to be entertained whilst warped by SUN, FUN or LACK of SLEEP, you really should take a look at ALL THE ART in there and while you’re there check out the TEMPLE OF COFFEE BEANS by Ben Stoelting and also check out his companion piece, the CHAPEL OF PASSAGES in which “the first kiss, the first love, the first child, first grandchild, first affair, first open relationship, first love, and many more… are all contemplated” in the vaulted ceiling. Ben is a good man and he’s got this girl named Helen and they’re just the sweetest couple ever and the rest is history.

10. The NIGHT will be INSANE this year. Not since KANGA and LITTLE ROO made their EL appearance will you see some cool neon lights and TECHNOLOGY driven ART that will pretty much blow your mind. At the top of this list looks to be Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate’s THE SERPENT TWINS. There will be two creations, cris-crossing I assume, and gyrating the dark with an explosion of moving colors.

AND SPEAKING OF NIGHT TIME, this year when the sun goes down, the playa will shiver, shimmer and reverberate with LIGHTS and FIRE at night like never before. A LIGHT HAZING by by Matthew GT, Aaron Zeilegs, Josh Howell, Andy Heom, Quasam Baouni, Sam Alcorn and Ben Kalenik is “a passage way of varying space and experience through a photoluminescent structure that can be painted with UV light pens creating a temporary glowing image”. GO THERE AND MAKE THE ART. Mark Lottor’s DIAMOND TOWER returns. PHOTON PUDDLE by Ilya Polyakov “is a sheet of green light projected ankle-high over the playa surface”. PULSAR by Dan Lockwood & Hedley Davis “is an interactive persistence of vision installation akin to horizontally spinning electronic poi balls.” I really like NIT WHIPS by Vincent Leclerc that is an installation of “tall poles” that PARTICIPANTS can shake to make them “oscillate in order to generate rich light compositions that evoke the mythic Northern Lights”.

And there will be FIRE my FRIENDS. ENJOY THE CATHARSIS. I can’t wait to see the SPARKS FROM BAPTEME DE FEU.

Things are also MOVING IN THE SKY Black Rock City. Are the Aliens finally here to pick up the most evolved of our species? I really love IS LAND however, it looks like it may have flown away like Pink Floyd’s PIG. Other things in the sky include AIRSHIP VICTORIA PROTOTYPE X3 by Kristian Akseth, Andrew Boyd, Stacey Reineccius which is an EVOLVING concept. Their Desert Preview presentation for this project blew me away with talk of an elevator to take up to a finely crafted Jules Verne inspired looking AIRSHIP. You’ll also see the BALLOON CHAIN by Robert Bose. You might even see the UFOs that FAIL TO REGISTER with the ARTery and that hover over us every year.

REALLY, there is SO MUCH AMAZING ART. We have ORGASM by Mr. BRIAN TEDRICK who did last year’s KEYHOLE that RAISED THE BAR with his MINARET. His 2009 PORTAL OF EVOLUTION represented the female reproductive system and I’m pretty cocksure MINARET represented something SOLID AND STANDING TALL. This year his ORGASM looks like it brings those TWO VISIONS TOGETHER as a “ 20′ tall x 8′ diameter steel vessel which can be filled with wood and burned.” Nuff said. Speaking of ORGASMS, WET DREAM by Warmbaby promises to be an unexpected rain experience on the playa and TITANOBOA by Charlie Brinson & crew may “mesmerize you” when you see a fifty foot serpent moving across the playa. tyMarco Cochrane brings his TRUTH IS BEAUTY, the sister to BLISS DANCE and our Flaming Lotus Girls bring FIRE and SCULPTURE with TYMPANI LAMBADA.

The ever animatronic MR. JELLYFISH MASTER of such delights as EIN HAMMER and ZSU ZSU The Crybaby Drama Queen gives us GEORGIE BOY: FALLEN QUEEN OF BROADWAY. The DUST CITY DINER returns to serve strong coffee from stronger waitresses and OCTIC OASIS by Gregg Fleishman and Melissa Barron promises to bring ART to the WILDERNESS OUTPOST of Black Rock City you didn’t know existed. There are SO MANY more projects that I haven’t mentioned, so go out there and DISCOVER THEM!

Get to know the ART this year. If you see the ARTISTS there, tell them you APPRECIATE what they’ve done. RESPECT the ART and do us a favor and don’t be a dumbass — DO NOT VANDALIZE IT. And realize you are actually in one of the GREATEST TEMPORARY PLACES ON EARTH, where so many spend so much energy to GIFT TO YOU, yes YOU with all this sincere ART. Without them, there would be no BURNING MAN.

And don’t forget, YOU CAN BRING YOUR ART with you. This isn’t a SHOW PEOPLE. This is like nothing ever done before. YOU make the show, so YOU bring it with you so have a WONDERFUL TIME THIS YEAR EVERYONE.

John Mosbaugh aka Moze is a SF Bay Area heretic and writer who's been hauling himself out to Black Rock City since the Nebulous Entity first beckoned him to check out this phenomenon known as Burning Man. Moze is a "Life Collector" who scribbles down encounters with you to share on the blog. He enjoys the hyper reality of that week in the desert enough to keep coming back. He's been on the Burning Man web team since aught two and has written for Piss Clear and the YEP (Yahoo Education Project). He doesn't speak for the org and he finds you fascinating. He celebrates you and loves it when you take away ideas from Burning Man and share them with the rest of the world. He likes to make grilled cheese on Burn Night afternoon and gift it to you because you're probably hungry. Moze is a big fan of fire, art, freedom and community.

YAY! Happy to be in the Top Ten and I am pleased to see the links to some older projects as well. And since I am a banker now and as a true bankers slowly getting obsessed by money I couldn’t resist to let you all know that we have a fundraising page. I know we are not the only Bank asking for Money. But I’m pretty sure we are the only bank asking for money to go to Burning Man! http://www.indiegogo.com/Exchanghibition-Bank-at-Burning-Man

Don’t forget “The Black Rock Bijou” it’s the fantastic movie theater in deep playa. Playing movies from midnight till 6am and giving out all the candy you can eat at their concession stand.http://www.facebook.com/blackrockbijou

Please try to send your mail around August 22nd & no later than August 31st.
One year a fellow Ranger (Good Start) sent me a FULL package of DORITOS! They
made it intact! Last year I got 1 shoe….. go figure. I can hardly wait to see
what you send!~?

I think my record mail delivery in one day was 17 pieces! I’m trying to beat
that this year.

Playa sounds INCREDIBLE this year! I loved reading this post! I’m so excited for all my friends who are going, and I’m starting to feel SO BUMMED that I am not coming home this year. Again. But. This amazing post that you shared (thank you!) encouraged me to write about my playa nostalgia and I hope you don’t mind that I linked to this post! Y’all just had me remembering all my favourite things about burning man.

Thank you for the well written article, Moze. I haven’t been to BM in a few years and love to get a heads up on which art to look for. Enjoy knowing a bit about the artist(s) also. Caps and bolds don’t bother me…just like a little playa dust doesn’t bother me either.

After seeing people selling there tickets on eBay and CL for (I shit you not) 400 to 4000 dollars I started feeling sorry for the burning man community and what it represents. I feel as though it has become jaded. I think this “rite of passage” is taking a corporate cock up the ass in order to get back home. I don’t mean to sound cynical or offend anyone. Have things changed or is it just me?

Dear Burners,
I’m the West Coast cultural correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, and I’d love to check out the major art installations at Burning Man 2011 and write about them, but I just can’t get there. (I’m wheelchair-bound, need help at home, couldn’t handle the heat and sand even if I flew there. I do, with a helper, cover things in LA, Vegas, Seattle, Denver as well as the Bay Area–my home–but Black Rock Desert is tough.)
I did see Peter Hudson’s fabulous preview of “Charon” on Treasure Island last weak, and am familiar with his and Michael Christian’s great earlier pieces, thanks to Andy Fuller, a good friend who has worked with both–as well (through books, online videos and pix) as former temples and other major efforts.
I have a few young and hearty friends attending who will help; but I’m asking others if they could possibly describe to me in words and pictures the five or ten most impressive art works they saw at BM 2011, so I can build an article–WSJ readers need to know!–out of these.
Thanks
David Littlejohn (dtl@berkeley.edu)